Costco Wholesale Corp Stock Beneish M Score

COST Stock  USD 955.65  27.57  2.97%   
This module uses fundamental data of Costco Wholesale to approximate the value of its Beneish M Score. Costco Wholesale M Score tells investors if the company management is likely to be manipulating earnings. The score is calculated using eight financial indicators that are adjusted by a specific multiplier. Please note, the M Score is a probabilistic model and cannot detect companies that manipulate their earnings with 100% accuracy. Check out Costco Wholesale Piotroski F Score and Costco Wholesale Altman Z Score analysis.
  
At this time, Costco Wholesale's Short and Long Term Debt Total is comparatively stable compared to the past year. Long Term Debt is likely to gain to about 5.1 B in 2024, whereas Long Term Debt Total is likely to drop slightly above 7.5 B in 2024. At this time, Costco Wholesale's Debt To Equity is comparatively stable compared to the past year. Debt To Assets is likely to gain to 0.15 in 2024, whereas Days Sales Outstanding is likely to drop 3.72 in 2024.
At this time, it appears that Costco Wholesale Corp is a possible manipulator. The earnings manipulation may begin if Costco Wholesale's top management creates an artificial sense of financial success, forcing the stock price to be traded at a high price-earnings multiple than it should be. In general, excessive earnings management by Costco Wholesale executives may lead to removing some of the operating profits from subsequent periods to inflate earnings in the following periods. This way, the manipulation of Costco Wholesale's earnings can lead to misrepresentations of actual financial condition, taking the otherwise loyal stakeholders on to the path of questionable ethical practices and plain fraud.
-1.73
Beneish M Score - Possible Manipulator
Elasticity of Receivables

1.0

Focus
Asset Quality

3.05

Focus
Expense Coverage

0.8

Focus
Gross Margin Strengs

1.03

Focus
Accruals Factor

0.8

Focus
Depreciation Resistance

0.73

Focus
Net Sales Growth

1.05

Focus
Financial Leverage Condition

1.0

Focus

Costco Wholesale Beneish M-Score Indicator Trends

The cure to earnings manipulation is the transparency of financial reporting. It will typically remove the temptation of the top executives to inflate earnings (i.e., to promote the idea of 'winning at any cost'). Because a healthy internal audit department can enhance transparency, the board should promote the auditors' access to all the record-keeping systems across the enterprise. For example, if Costco Wholesale's auditors report directly to the board (not management), the managers will be reluctant to manipulate simply due to the fear of punishment. On the other hand, the auditors will be free to investigate the ledgers properly because they know that the board has their back.
Current ValueLast YearChange From Last Year 10 Year Trend
Net Receivables2.9 B2.7 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Revenue267.2 B254.5 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Assets73.3 B69.8 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Current Assets36 B34.2 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Non Current Assets Total37.4 B35.6 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Property Plant Equipment26.6 B35.3 B
Way Down
Slightly volatile
Depreciation And Amortization2.3 B2.2 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Selling General Administrative19.2 B22.8 B
Fairly Down
Slightly volatile
Total Current Liabilities37.2 B35.5 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Non Current Liabilities Total11.3 B10.7 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Short Term Debt97.8 M103 M
Notably Down
Slightly volatile
Long Term Debt5.1 B4.8 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Operating Income9.7 B9.3 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Cash From Operating Activities11.9 B11.3 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Short Term InvestmentsB1.2 B
Fairly Down
Very volatile
Gross Profit Margin0.130.1261
Fairly Up
Very volatile

Costco Wholesale Corp Beneish M-Score Driver Matrix

One of the toughest challenges investors face today is learning how to quickly synthesize historical financial statements and information provided by the company, SEC reporting, and various external parties in order to detect the potential manipulation of earnings. Understanding the correlation between Costco Wholesale's different financial indicators related to revenue, expenses, operating profit, and net earnings helps investors identify and prioritize their investing strategies towards Costco Wholesale in a much-optimized way. Analyzing correlations between earnings drivers directly associated with dollar figures is the most effective way to find Costco Wholesale's degree of accounting gimmicks and manipulations.

About Costco Wholesale Beneish M Score

M-Score is one of many grading techniques for value stocks. It was developed by Professor M. Daniel Beneish of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and published in 1999 under the paper titled The Detection of Earnings Manipulation. The Beneish score is a multi-factor model that utilizes financial identifiers to compile eight variables used to classify whether a company has manipulated its reported earnings. The variables are built from the officially filed financial statements to create a final score call 'M Score.' The score helps to identify companies that are likely to manipulate their profits if they show deteriorating gross margins, operating expenses, and leverage against growing revenue.

Depreciation And Amortization

2.35 Billion

At this time, Costco Wholesale's Depreciation And Amortization is comparatively stable compared to the past year.

Costco Wholesale Earnings Manipulation Drivers

Although earnings manipulation is typically not the result of intentional misconduct by the c-level executives, it is still a widespread practice by the senior management of public companies such as Costco Wholesale. It is usually done by a series of misrepresentations of various accounting rules and operating activities across multiple financial cycles. The best way to spot the manipulation is to examine the historical financial statement to find inconsistencies in earning reports to find trends in assets or liabilities that are not sustainable in the future.
201920202021202220232024 (projected)
Net Receivables1.6B1.8B2.2B2.3B2.7B2.9B
Total Revenue166.8B195.9B227.0B242.3B254.5B267.2B
Total Assets55.6B59.3B64.2B69.0B69.8B73.3B
Total Current Assets28.1B29.5B32.7B35.9B34.2B36.0B
Net Debt(2.1B)(1.1B)(1.2B)(4.8B)(1.6B)(1.6B)
Short Term Debt95M799M73M1.1B103M97.9M
Long Term Debt7.5B6.7B6.5B5.4B4.8B5.1B
Operating Income5.4B6.7B7.8B8.1B9.3B9.7B
Investments52M115M24M(5.0B)(4.4B)(4.2B)

Costco Wholesale ESG Sustainability

Some studies have found that companies with high sustainability scores are getting higher valuations than competitors with lower social-engagement activities. While most ESG disclosures are voluntary and do not directly affect the long term financial condition, Costco Wholesale's sustainability indicators can be used to identify proper investment strategies using environmental, social, and governance scores that are crucial to Costco Wholesale's managers, analysts, and investors.
Environmental
Governance
Social

About Costco Wholesale Fundamental Analysis

The Macroaxis Fundamental Analysis modules help investors analyze Costco Wholesale Corp's financials across various querterly and yearly statements, indicators and fundamental ratios. We help investors to determine the real value of Costco Wholesale using virtually all public information available. We use both quantitative as well as qualitative analysis to arrive at the intrinsic value of Costco Wholesale Corp based on its fundamental data. In general, a quantitative approach, as applied to this company, focuses on analyzing financial statements comparatively, whereas a qaualitative method uses data that is important to a company's growth but cannot be measured and presented in a numerical way.
Please read more on our fundamental analysis page.

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Additional Tools for Costco Stock Analysis

When running Costco Wholesale's price analysis, check to measure Costco Wholesale's market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy Costco Wholesale is operating at the current time. Most of Costco Wholesale's value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of Costco Wholesale's future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and the financial market as a whole to determine factors that move Costco Wholesale's price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of Costco Wholesale to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.